1. Technical Field
The embodiments described herein generally relate to medical devices, and, more particularly, to medical devices used for spinal implant surgeries.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional surgical procedures for pathologies located within the body have historically cause significant trauma to the intervening tissues. These procedures often require a long incision, extensive muscle stripping, prolonged retraction of tissues, denervation and devascularization of tissue. Such procedures can require operating room time of several hours and several weeks of post-operative recovery time due to the destruction of tissue during the surgical procedure. In many cases, these invasive procedures lead to permanent scarring and pain that can be more severe than the pain leading to the surgical intervention.
The development of percutaneous surgical procedures has yielded a major improvement in reducing recovery time and post-operative pain because minimal dissection of tissue, such as muscle tissue, is required. For example, minimally invasive surgical techniques are desirable for spinal and neurosurgical applications because of the need for access to locations within the body and the danger of damage to vital intervening tissues. While developments in minimally invasive surgery are steps in the right direction, there remains a need for further development in minimally invasive surgical instruments and methods. For example, conventional surgical instruments used during minimally invasive surgical procedures provide limited movement surgery and offer limited depth control during the procedure. These shortcomings to convention minimally invasive surgical instruments frequently raise the risk of additional morbidity to a patient undergoing a minimally invasive surgical procedure.